[John Vanderslice with opener Jared Bartman at the Canopy Club on 4/17]
John Vanderslice played in the smoking area OUTSIDE OF CANOPY. Yeah. Click on the link for full details, photos and a video of the outdoor performance:
Jared Bartman:
Bartman’s music wasn’t terrible or hard to listen to necessarily, but it was total sorority rock. Something about his demeanor made it inferable that he got involved in guitar to impress “the ladies,” and his nervous struggle with tuning emphasized how amateur he was. But, when Vanderslice thanked him while onstage, the tiny crowd cheered louder than I expected, as if he had some superfans or friends in the audience.
John Vanderslice:
John Vanderslice laid the show out into three parts — the concert, an acoustic performance outside and then a dance party (featuring Lil’ Wayne, Evangelicals and Bowerbirds) — and thanked everyone profusely, encouraging them to come to their hotel after, trash their room and help him rip the tarp off of the outdoor pool with his boxcutter. He even sold pillowcases at his merch table, and has all of 2007’s Emerald City available for streaming on his MySpace page.
Vanderslice, with his glee and constant happiness, is officially a backwards rock star.
To best describe his music, I’ll break it down mathematically:
John Vanderslice = (The Decemberists – olden timey sound) + (Death Cab For Cutie’s new material – crazy-expansive instrumental breaks)
Weird comparison, I know, but it’s true. The best part of Vanderslice’s sound is that he and his band constantly pair solidly crafted, non-extravagant music with tiny details like faint harmonies, vocal trills, high-pitched violin parts and interesting drum fills, which is why the previous comparison was drawn. Minor dissonances, best displayed on “White Dove”, mark my favorite song and effect of his.
Because of the detailing, I assumed the campfire-esque outdoor portion of the show would be worse than the indoors, since they were without microphones or full equipment. But, because a slowed down, stripped down version of their music translates to almost being folk-rock, it was fantastic, and both a liberal and proverbial breath of fresh air to see a group display their music so accessibly.
Best merch ever:
Photos from outdoors:
Video:
John Vanderslice performing outside of Canopy Club on 4/17/08
Live Vicariously:
That’s a pretty rough and just wrong assessment of Bartman’s set, and I wasn’t just one of his friends in the audience, I had never heard him before.
I took your comment into consideration and gave him a second listen.
My opinion stays the same.
I’ve never heard any “sorority rock” with tabla or bass clarinets or accordions. Also, quality spelling of “ameateur “. You should fix that if you don’t want to look like a total idiot.
You haven’t? It seems like you’ve listened to Bartman’s live show before, though.
Thanks for the spell check!
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Good post.